A very high yield stock is likely correlated to a very low absolute stock price. That stock price may be very low for a reason. You have to start digging into the company to see whether there are fundamental issues with the company that may mean that the dividend will either be caught, or that the company is in serious trouble.
Government Properties Income Trust (NASDAQ:GOV) seems like it would be a slam-dunk investment, and a high-yield stock paying 12.6% just seems like it would make sense. Uniti Group Inc (NASDAQ:UNIT) is yielding 14.4% — it’s a true high-yield stock with a number so high that it should be raising your eyebrows. Oxford Lane Capital Corp (NASDAQ:OXLC), which has a yield of 15.9%, is a bit of an oddball. It is a very highly leveraged closed-end fund that deals with collateralized loan obligations in various tranches, most of which are subordinated.